At present, there are no adequate resistant training facilities to train and progressively strengthen the intrinsic muscle groups of the foot and/or hand and the associated lower limbs through resistance training. In particular, it is important to develop and strengthen the muscles in the foot and the lower leg from an early age as developing these muscles will have a positive effect on a person's health and performance in many sports. However, from an early age, a lack of gripping, climbing and a lack of bare foot activities worsens the condition of the muscles groups, preventing the muscles from working efficiently and therefore weakening the feet. This problem worsens as a person grows older and can lead to many health problems through the lower joints up to the neck and back and can also have a detrimental effect on a person's balance. Therefore, it is advantageous to have a resistance training facility which progressively exercises the required muscle groups of the foot and lower leg from an early age to prevent such health problems.
Furthermore, such a resistance training facility is required for rehabilitation purposes to treat many injuries of the intrinsic muscle groups of the foot and lower leg, including metatarsal injuries, therefore enabling a speedy recovery from such injuries and keeping the muscle groups active and healthy.
It is also recognised that such a resistance training facility could potentially be used by an athlete wishing to improve their sport performance by increasing their balance, speed and jumping ability.
A previous method of treating injuries of the foot and/or lower leg involves the use of a towel and a dead weight. The injured person sits on a bench with their foot directly below their knee and their toes placed on one end of the towel. The dead weight is placed at the second end of the towel and the person grips the towel with their toes and drags the dead weight towards them.
A further method of treating the injuries of the foot and/or lower leg involves the injured person picking up marbles with the toes of their injured foot by gripping the marbles between the joints of the toes.
Although such methods are adequate for rebuilding the strength in the foot and lower leg, they cannot be used to progressively strengthen the muscle groups in the foot and lower leg therefore, strengthening the muscle groups against further injuries. Furthermore, such exercises do not allow for eccentric training: training in which the muscles are contracting whilst lengthening, as the toes are gradually returned to their starting position under resistance.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,472 (Martinez) discloses an exercise device suitable for exercising the metatarsal arch after a metatarsal injury has occurred. The exercise device comprises a housing and a sliding device which is guided by a guiding rod and is spring loaded against the housing, producing resistance against the flexing of the metatarsal arch.
The problems with exercise device of U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,472 is that the gripping bar is straight and so the exercise device can only effectively train the big toe and possibly the adjacent second toe. None of the other toes will fit over the gripping bar due to the natural curvature of the toe joints of the user. Therefore, a number of the important muscle groups in the foot and lower leg are not trained by the device. Furthermore, as the sliding device is moved relative to resistance produced by a spring attached to the guiding rod, it is not possible to progressively train the foot and lower leg as is it not possible to increase or decrease the spring resistance and hence the resistance against the flexing of the metatarsal arch. Further, a build up of friction may occur as the sliding base is pushed backwards and forwards against the spring resistance which is detrimental to the operation of the device.
An alternative device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,577,861 (Bangerter) which describes an exercise machine capable of progressively strengthening the muscles of the fingers and/or toes and associated limbs. This machine comprises a hinged platform attached to a support member upon which the user of the machine places their hand or foot such that their fingers or toes are disposed on the platform. The hinged platform is linked up to a weight stack carrying a load which can be increased or decreased to progressively train the muscles. The platform is pressed down by the fingers or toes against the resistance of the weight stack, thereby flexing the muscles in the hand or foot and the associated limb.
The problem with the exercise machine disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,577,861 is that the joint between the hinged platform and support member is straight, whereas the proximal joints of the fingers or toes of the user have a curved arrangement. Therefore, any proximal joints which do not line up with the joint of the machine will not contribute to the exercise and so the associated muscles will not be trained.
Furthermore, when all of the digits of the hand or foot are placed on the hinged platform, many of the proximal joints be located in front of the joint and hence pivot of the machine. Therefore, the proximal joints will not be aligned with the joint of the machine, causing a build up of friction as the digits scrap backwards on the hinged platform, when the platform is pressed down, and scrap forwards as the platform returns to its starting position. This also prevents a number of the muscle groups of the foot or hand and the associated limbs from being effectively trained by this machine.
The inventor has sought to provide an exercise device which progressively trains all of the intrinsic muscle groups of the foot and/or hand and associated limbs, which may be employed to prevent health problems, overcome sport injuries and improve performance in sport